


Artifacting.

by Fullsun_Sunflower



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Mentioned Suh Youngho | Johnny, No Romance, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27591602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fullsun_Sunflower/pseuds/Fullsun_Sunflower
Summary: They had all knew and accepted the world was ending for quite a while now. At least... That was what the news had told them. The large progress bar in the sky was counting down to the world's demise.But... Then it didn't. The file corrupted. And the sky blue screened.And now Kun is left to wonder how he and his group mates are going to deal with this.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25
Collections: NCT Bigbang Round 1





	Artifacting.

You can suspend your disbelief for a lot of things, videogames included. If a game you like has… less than stellar graphics, shittily written NPCs, or blocky character designs, you can put all that aside if you see something more valuable within the game, in the form of a good storyline, beautiful soundtrack, or amazing combat controls. But that’s the thing, you’re suspending your disbelief, not completely setting it aside. Because there’s always a part of you that always knows, that it’s just a game. There’s a world outside of the console that has working physics, perfectly rendered graphics, and is populated by living, breathing people.

But… what about suspending your disbelief for that world too?

Kun looked blankly at the night skyline as the giant error message floating in the sky seemed to stare back at him, it’s message nearly taunting him in it’s simplicity, any acceptance of the perceived situation seemingly meaningless now as he read the message over and over again.

Error. Deletion not completed. File corrupted.

Error. Deletion not completed. File corrupted.

Error. Deletion not completed. File corrupted.

Error--

Kun’s head snapped up as the entire night sky seemed to break in front of his very eyes, everything except the error message hanging in the sky beginning to flicker like a half drained lightbulb. The stars began to pixelate before flickering out completely and in rapid succession, one by one, until Kun was left staring at a blank, inky void.

But then it all turned a blinding blue.

Well, it might not be ‘blinding’ in it’s actual color per say, but at the time the total shift was enough to cause Kun’s eyes to squeeze shut at its suddenness. Upon hesitantly opening his eyes a crack, and shielding himself slightly with his fingers, Kun was finally able to take in his surroundings once again, now finding the sky to be a blaring, loud blue. It was the kind of blue that no one really liked, one that brought with it faded, foggy memories of earlier computers and mind boggling bugs that crashed them. That deadly, error screen kind of blue.

A FATAL EXCEPTION HAS OCCURRED IN PROGRAM EARTH.EXE, AS A RESULT YOU CAN NO LONGER LOG IN TO THIS COMPUTER. PLEASE CONTACT ADMIN FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE. 

Maybe he should’ve appreciated the night sky more while he still had it. 

Kun stood up, half in disbelief and half in frustration, legs shaky as he was about to turn around and go back to his hotel room. There’s no way that this could’ve possibly happened. This was all some weird dream. Why did this--

And then he saw it in the distance.

There were a few skyscrapers on the skyline of the city flickering in and out… almost like they were having trouble rendering in. No, it wasn’t almost like they were having trouble rendering in, they were having trouble rendering in. And as Kun looked at the city closer, there were more just… little errors and glitches beginning to manifest within his field of vision. Buildings with broken textures, some stuck in a weird limbo between 3D skeleton and actual building, some reduced to their base models and shapes.

The world was breaking.

He should’ve seen it coming as soon as the box errored-- or, well, at least once the whole sky blue screened. Kun quickly turned on his heel and ran back into the hotel, desperate to see if, at least, the people he had seen last were unaffected. He slammed the roof exit door shut behind him as he quickly ran back down the stairs to the top floor of the hotel, basically slamming the door to the penthouse as well as he ran in, not caring to stop and take his shoes off as his footsteps thundered across the wood floors.

He was greeted by the sight of a very sleepy Ten waking up from his spot asleep on the couch, away from one of the very plush beds he’d insisted on taking the night prior, his tired catlike eyes looking around in a confused squint as he slid off the couch, standing up slowly.

“How the fuck am I… what?” He asked, his voice a bit jittery and hesitant as he looked down at himself, running light fingers over his arms and neck as he seemed to check if he was still entirely tangible, before looking up at Kun, now seemingly more awake, but even more confused.

“How am I alive?”

“The... uh…” Kun, in all honesty, had absolutely no idea how to explain a thing such as this in words. 

How exactly do you expect him to say something like “oh the world just glitched, I think it’s file got corrupted.” Without sounding… crazy? The whole realization that the world was a computer simulation was enough for both him, Ten, and the most of the world as it was, so how was he supposed to explain to him now that it wasn’t just that, but also, they were now living in a post apocalyptic world where it seemed like the world was a half-finished and badly programmed videogame?

All Kun could really think to do was point. He pointed at the blue screening sky out the floor to ceiling windows that stood at the other end of the room, Ten’s confused gaze following his finger before finally taking notice of the broken scene outside the window, his form freezing in shock as he stared. Kun figured it was just best to leave him be for now, and instead made his way back to the two bedrooms in the suite, stopping in front of the one opposite the one he and a few others had claimed the night previous, his hand hesitating just centimeters away from the wood.

He could just let them be. He could let them wake up on their own and figure it out themselves. Maybe it would be better for them that way.

...No. No that couldn’t possibly be the better way to go about this. Kun firmly shook his head to himself and knocked on the door, pushing it open with his free hand. The sound of knuckles rapping against wood slightly delayed a second or two, actually only sounding once he swung the door open, electing to ignore the small delay as he stepped into the room, faced with a sight he wasn’t entirely surprised by.

Dejun and Guanheng had fallen asleep on the large bed set up in the center of the room, Dejun tucked neatly into Guanheng’s arms, both their chests rising and falling in unison as they continued to sleep, blissfully unaware of what had taken place mere minutes before, probably still under the belief that they were inevitably going to die, if they hadn’t already. Upon glancing out to the nearby balcony though, he was met with a very different sight.

“...Sicheng?” Kun quietly asked as he slid open the glass door leading out to the balcony, Sicheng’s slender form shifting slightly as he turned his head to look at Kun, a sad smile on his face as his eyes carried a tiredness within them that wasn’t physical.

“I wanted to watch the end of it all… I guess it got shy.” He said, his words a bit cryptic as Kun walked up to join him near the railing, leaning an elbow on the cold iron rail as Sicheng redirected his gaze out to the city with a small sigh.

“I was up on the roof to watch it too.” Kun said, telling Sicheng the truth, “I guess you could say I’m not a kind of person who can just sleep through the end of the world.”

Sicheng nodded with a small hum as he tilted his head to the side slightly, casting a glance back towards Guangeng and Dejun.

“Maybe it’s because we don’t have people to fall asleep with.” He pondered, before seeming to shake the thought out of his head and glance up to the harsh blue sky.

“The wind’s stopped. I haven’t felt anything since the window glitched.”

Kun lightly raised an eyebrow at the observation, putting a hand up to try and feel for anything. But… he was met with silence and stagnant air. Usually, it was something he only felt occasionally, usually right before a storm or on a swampy summer day where it seemed like the weather had it out for him. But now… it had a terrible, underlying wrongness to it that made it even worse than those unbearable summer days. It was unnatural. It was very unnatural to be outside and feel absolutely nothing but stagnant air.

But then again, it made sense, in an odd way. Once the world was beginning to shut down like this, wind could be considered an asset that was for cosmetic purposes only, so it would be one of the first things to cut power from if you were to redirect that energy to things that needed it more. 

“I can take care of those two if you want me to.” Sicheng softly said, the suddenness of the statement startling Kun out of his pondering.

He thought about it for a bit, his eyes again flitting between the other two and Sicheng, a short sigh eventually leaving his lips as he felt lost for options.

“Thank you.” He said, Sicheng reaching across to gently pat Kun on the shoulder, before giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s the least I can do. We’re both adjusted to… whatever this is. They’re not. I might not be as good at comforting them as you would be but… I can try.”

Kun gave Sicheng as reassuring of a smile as he could, trying to hide the guilt the statement brought to him as he remembered how he’d froze up with Ten just moments ago. Yeah, sure, he was a good leader at times, but he had no idea how to deal with any of this.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” he said, before Sicheng gave him a nod, and Kun turned around to exit back to the bedroom.

He quietly closed the bedroom door behind him with a small click of the latch, knowing that despite what it may seem like at times, Sicheng is someone he can entrust with tasks quite easily, and he knew he would probably end up doing a better job breaking the odd and unsavory news to Dejun and Guanheng than Kun had with Ten.

Kunhang entered the opposing bedroom without knocking, finding Yukhei oddly sprawled out on the kingsized bed in the center of the room, completely asleep, an unidentifiable object next to his head. Kun approached it cautiously, with curious eyes, and picked the blocky thing up. It was a solid grey in color and looked like it should weigh either quite heavy or quite light, but it… felt like neither of those things. 

“Is this a phone?” he mumbled to himself, dropping the item back down on the bed with a small thump. 

He found his mind tweaking its perception of its surroundings surprisingly fast today-- he really would’ve expected to still be in shock, but it seems as if his brain was hard wired to just change situations to a new normal as fast as possible. 

The human brain was weird.

He decided to leave Yukhei sleeping for a while, seeing the more pressing issue was the fact that he couldn’t find Yangyang anywhere, and despite the fact that it wasn’t quite out of character for him, it was still quite a problem-- considering the whole world was crumbling before their eyes.

After a minute or so of searching the room, Kun finally pushed the door open to the side bathroom with a small creek, greeted by the sight of the youngest balled up in the bathtub, head between his knees. 

“...Yangyang?” Kun softly asked, hesitantly stepping forwards and kneeling down next to the bathtub, leaning against the cold porcelain as he slowly reached out to gently take hold of the younger’s arm. 

Yangyang looked up with a start, eyes wide and scared, no trace of his usual smiley exterior.

“You’re alive?” he asked, seeming confused, before looking down at himself, “I’m alive… what the hell is happening?”

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to publish all the chapters in one day, but I figure it's better to stagger them as once a week. So stay tuned for the next few chapters as they come out!


End file.
